As if the heavens sensed my despair, the clouds opened. Rain poured down, soaking my dark hair. It dripped over my eyes and coated my cheeks. The water soaked my jeans, making them cling to my legs.
But I couldn’t feel the water droplets as they streamed down the bridge of my nose. I couldn’t feel the locks of hair that were stuck to my forehead. I couldn’t feel the wet denim on my thighs as it rubbed my skin raw.
I was numb. There was nothing.
Nothing except the weight of four pounds, two ounces wrapped in a pink blanket resting in my arms as I said good-bye.
One or two.
What would Shannon want?
One. She’d choose one.
So I’d bury them together.
Then surrender to the black.
“You’re here!” Thea rushed across the runway.
“I’m here!” I stepped off the last stair of my boss’s private jet just as she threw her arms around me. The Kendrick family, Thea in particular, was arguably more excited about this adventure of mine than I was.
Montana, meet your newest resident: Piper Campbell.
I loved it here already.
The sky above me was blue with only a few wisps of feathered clouds. The sunshine was warm on my shoulders and the April air fresh in my nose. Any doubts I’d had about moving floated away in the mountain breeze.
Thea gave me one last squeeze for good measure, then stood back so her husband could take her place.
“Hey, boss.” I gave Logan a mock salute as I infused the word boss with as much sarcasm as possible.
Logan chuckled, shaking his head as he came in for an embrace. His hug wasn’t quite as enthusiastic as his wife’s, but it was a close second. “It’s good to see you.”
“You too,” I told him as he let me go. Then I gave him a diabolical smile. “It will be much easier to give you orders in person than over the phone.”
“Maybe this was a bad idea.” He frowned and looked over my shoulder at his family’s pilot standing on top of the plane’s staircase. “Mitch, Ms. Campbell isn’t staying after all. You’d better turn this thing around and take her back to the city.”
“Ignore him!” I called over my shoulder to Mitch, who laughed and went back inside the plane.
I was Logan’s assistant but gave him a hard time about who was really in charge. His ego could use a little razzing now and then. It was all in good fun because we both knew that I’d be lost without him. He was the best boss I could have ever asked for.
Logan took the backpack from my shoulder and slung it over his. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“So am I.” I stepped around him, going right for the cutest little girl on the planet. “Charlie!”
She smiled and left Thea’s side, rushing forward for a hug. “Hey, Piper.”
“I’ve missed you, kiddo. I want to hear all about school and your soccer team.”
“Okay.” She smiled and took my hand, showing no signs of letting it go anytime soon.
Spending time with Charlie Kendrick was pure joy—except for the tiny pinch of longing that poked me in the side.
With her quiet voice and sweet nature, Charlie didn’t act like a princess or a diva. She was a tomboy, much like I had been at her age. Instead of a tiara, she wore an old, faded baseball cap over her long, brown hair the same color as her dad’s. There wasn’t a stitch of pink or purple anywhere in sight.
If I could have had a little girl, I would have wanted one as precious and unique as Charlie.
I ignored the pinch and held out my free hand to fist-bump her little brother, Collin. “Hey, bud.”
He gave me a shy smile but held fast to his dad’s leg. Collin was destined to be beautiful, like his siblings. While Charlie took after Logan, Collin was the spitting image of his mother, with nearly black hair and rich, dark eyes.
I winked at him, then went over to the baby carrier where eight-month-old Camila was fast asleep. “I can’t believe how much she’s grown in four months,” I told Thea as I looked adoringly at Camila’s chubby cheeks.
“They always say time flies after you have children. It’s the truth.”
Another pinch, but I ignored it too.
I’d have to get over those now that I was living here. Whenever Logan and Thea had come to New York, I’d always volunteered to babysit the kids so their parents could have a night out, and I planned to do a lot more of that now that I was living in Montana.
I was determined to become Aunt Piper, blood relation be damned.
“How much stuff did you bring along?” Logan asked.
“Not much.” I turned back to the plane as one of the attendants hauled a large suitcase down the stairs. “That case plus two more. The rest is in storage until I find a place here. Then I’ll have it shipped out.”
“All right.” Logan smiled at Thea. “You guys get loaded up and I’ll take care of the bags.”
Twenty minutes later, my suitcases were in the back of Logan’s beast of a silver SUV and we were headed down the highway toward my new hometown.
Lark Cove.
“It’s so beautiful.” My nose was practically pressed against the window as I soaked everything in. “It takes my breath away every time.”
Tall evergreens lined the highway, towering above us into the bright sky. Past their thick trunks, the water of Flathead Lake rippled and glittered under the sun’s rays.
Paradise.
“And now you get to live here.” Logan smiled at me in his rearview mirror.
I smiled back, then returned to the scenery. “And now I get to live here.”
My parents thought I was crazy for giving up my apartment in Manhattan to move to a small town in Montana I’d only visited once—maybe they were right. But I needed this change of pace.
I’d spent months grieving the death of my marriage. I’d come to terms with what I would and wouldn’t have in my life. And when the dust had settled, I’d realized New York wasn’t home anymore.
The only thing that had kept me in the city after Adam and I divorced had been my job. Working for Logan at the Kendrick Foundation, his family’s charitable organization, was the best part of each day. But after a while, even work couldn’t fill the lonely void.
This past Christmas, I’d confided in Thea that I was looking for a change and that it might involve me quitting. She’d passed it along to Logan, who had adamantly refused to accept my resignation. Instead, he’d offered to move me anywhere in the world to work remotely.
When he’d tossed out the idea of Montana, it had stuck. I could see myself living here.
I wanted empty highways instead of crowded city streets. I craved more space than the six-inch personal bubble people allowed me on the subway. I was sick and tired of seeing my ex-husband’s face on every corner, plastered to buses and billboards.
So I’d waited out the winter, enduring the longest four months of my life while I hid behind the walls of my apartment. Then I packed up my stuff, bid farewell to my family and friends and said good-bye to the city of my past.
Adam got to keep New York in our divorce.
I was taking Lark Cove, a town he hadn’t ruined.
The thirty-minute drive from the airport to Lark Cove went by fast. While the kids laughed, Thea and I talked about her latest art project and how things were going at the bar she ran with her best friend. Logan had tried to sneak in a few work topics, but his wife had shut him down immediately, reminding him it could wait until the weekend was over.
And then, before I knew it, we were here. Home.
“Don’t blink or you’ll miss it,” Logan teased as we passed a small green sign that read Entering Lark Cove.
My smile got wider, my dimples no doubt deepening. “It’s better than I remember.”
He drove slowly through the quaint town, letting me take in all of the businesses clustered along the highway. I saw things differently than when I’d come out here a few years ago for Logan and Thea’s wedding. Then, I’d only been a tourist, excited to witness my boss get married.
Now I was a resident.
I was giddy at the prospect of grocery shopping at the small mercantile. Bob’s Diner looked like my new favorite cheeseburger joint. When I went into Thea’s bar, it would be as a regular patron.